The Musketeers - Constance Aramis
by IrisKnight
Summary: This will be a collection of stories following my new favorite unconventional ship - Constance and Aramis. Down graded the rating.
1. Nightmares

Disclaimer: I do not own the Musketeers, nor am I making any money off of them. I have become a huge fan of Aramis and Constance. This is not to say that I don't love the traditional ships of D'artagnan and Constance and Anne and Aramis, but there is something adorable about the two of them in an unconventional way.

Constance still didn't know how they had managed to talk her into this. She had been perfectly happy at home. There were enough chores that it would have kept her busy for the rest of the night and for a few nights to come, but she was trying to keep warm in the ridiculous dress, using the term loosely, that she was wearing. She was allowing the cold to distract her from the harsh reality that she had shot someone. Would she have done it again, yes, but she ended the life of some man who probably had a family that he would not be going home to.

"Constance?" A voiced startled her out of her dark thoughts.

She didn't notice that she had all but stopped walking with the group and the others were a short distance down the road. "Sorry."

"Are you alright?" Aramis asked, noticing that she was still shivering under D'artagnan's coat. They were getting close to where they planned to camp for the night and they could get a fire started.

"I am fine. I just have a lot on my mind." She gave him what she intended to be a reassuring smile. To Aramis, it looked to be just short of a grimace.

"We are going to make camp just up ahead." He offered her his arm and they started walking towards the others. He could see they had already stopped and were setting up a camp, which included the fire that would provide some light for him to better assess her current state.

They arrived at the makeshift camp and Aramis guided Constance to the fire and had her sit on the blanket lying next to it. He pulled his cloak off and added it to the one that D'artagnan had already loaned her.

"Madame Bonacieux, are you well?" Athos had been watching her since she had separated from the group. He was relieved to see that Aramis had stayed back with her and had been able to get her talking to him. They had tried speaking to her on the walk back and she had stopped responding shortly after they left the fight. D'artagnan had been the first to want to console the young woman, but had bowed to Athos experience that she may be in need of medical attention and reluctantly agreed that Aramis should stay with her.

There was no response and Aramis just shrugged at him. They all settled next to the fire with Porthos volunteering to take first watch. Reluctantly D'artagnan turned in, since he had the next watch, leaving Athos and Aramis with Constance, who had not spoken since arriving at camp. "Constance?" Aramis called to softly, not wanting to wake the sleeping young man nearby. He could see her trembling every so often, but other than that slight movement, she could have been a statue. He pulled her hand into his. It was cold and clammy. He stood and pulled out a blanket from his bags and grabbed the wine skin tied to his horse. He placed the blanket around her shoulders and offered her the wine skin. "I need you to take a drink of this for me."

She continued to stare forward at the fire, with no indication that she had heard him. He pulled the top off of the wine skin and held it to her lips. She finally blinked and seemed to realize that they had made it to camp. She took a sip of the wine and gave it back to Aramis. "Thank you Aramis."

"You are most welcome. You should turn in for the night. We will ride out at dawn." He helped her get settled. He moved over next to Athos, so they could speak without disturbing either Constance or D'artagnan.

"How is she?" Athos asked looking over at the bundle of cloaks and blankets.

"She killed someone tonight. I think she is doing remarkablely well considering." Aramis replied poking at the fire.

Athos nodded. "It is going to be a long night." He had seen many men after they had experienced their first battle and knew the horror the mind bestowed upon them in their sleep.

"For her sake I hope not." Aramis replied and settled against a log that was near the fire.

He hated when Athos was right. A scream pierced the night and startled Aramis from the restless sleep he had finally settled into.

D'artagnan was the first one up and raced over to Constance who was thrashing under the blanket and cloaks nearby. "Constance. Constance wake up." He shook her and her eyes flew open. She screamed and scrambled back away from him.

"I'm sorry." She kept repeating over and over, rocking and whispering apologies into the darkness.

"Constance, it's okay." D'artagnan looked over to Athos and Aramis with a helpless look as he tried to grab her arm, but she pulled away violently.

"Constance." Aramis had walked over close to where she had scrambled to. "It's alright. You're safe."

"I killed someone."

"You saved D'artagnan's life. You didn't have a choice."

"I took him from his family." She replied, staring back into the fire.

"You saved your friend from dying." Aramis replied softly crouching next to her.

"I killed someone." Constance began to tremble again. Aramis reached over to pull the blanket back around her when she flinched back.

"Shh...it's alright. It is all over now, you're safe and D'artagnan is alive thanks to you." He tried again and successfully placed the blanket back around her. "Try and go back to sleep." He suggested softly. He helped her move back closer to the fire where Athos was back up adding logs to the fire and Porthos was just coming back from watch.

"Everythin' okay?" Porthos asked scanning the group, making sure they were not in any danger, but guessing the reason for the scream that had drawn him back to the camp. He had been a soldier long enough to know the effect of battle on a human being.

"Madame Bonacieux is just getting settled back in for the night." Athos replied with an even tone not addressing what had them all up in the middle of the night. "D'artagnan, your up next for watch, then I will take final watch. Aramis, please be sure to look after our guest for the evening." Athos pulled his hat back over his face and that was the end of any conversation on his part.

Aramis gave Constance the wine skin and had her drink a generous portion of it before settling her back near the fire. He softly began telling her about some of the adventure he, Athos and Porthos had in recent weeks, keeping his voice low and even, and was happy to see that she had dropped back off to sleep.

In the morning Constance seemed much better in the morning. Other than a grateful smile to Aramis, which he responded with a smile and a tip of his hat, as she settled herself behind D'artagnan on the ride home, the matter was never discussed again.


	2. Home to Paris

Disclaimer: I sadly do not own the Musketeers.

Constance settled in for the ride back to Paris. There was a solemn silence since they had left the child with his mother. She had held the true King of France in her arms just hours ago and she missed the feeling of a child in her arms. She could have gotten used to having him around. She looked over at D'artagnan and Athos who were arguing with Porthos over some detail during one of their latest adventures. She had been riding in companionable silence next to Aramis. The usually social musketeer was lost in his own thoughts. She knew how fond he had become of Henry and Agnes. It was the family that she knew in her heart that he wanted.

"Aramis."

He looked up at her with surprise. "Yes?"

"I'm sorry. I know how close you had gotten to both of them."

"I know that you were quite fond of Henry yourself." He replied with a knowing look.

"I didn't want to give him back." Constance looked away for a moment before returning her gaze to Aramis.

"I never did get to ask where you learned to fight like that. I am pretty sure when we met that you didn't have those skills." Aramis knew very well who had taught her, but wanted to see what her reply would be.

"I asked D'artagnan to teach me. He has also been teaching me to shoot."

"Madame, if you wanted to learn how to shoot you should have come to an expert in marksmanship." Aramis imagined trying to teach Constance how to shoot and every scenario ended up with him getting slapped. Perhaps it was best that D'artagnan taught her how to shoot.

"I think I have the basics down."

"I am just wounded you didn't ask me." He gave her is best wounded look, but it slowly turned into a smile.

Constance returned the smile, "I am sorry if I have wounded you Aramis. It was just a nice diversion, so it was not a pre-planned event."

"Then perhaps another time I can show you how a true marksman handles his weapon."

Constance stared at him for a moment. "I am pretty sure it gets handled enough." She smirked at his shocked expression and rode ahead to join the others.


	3. Soup

Disclaimer: I sadly still do not own the Musketeers and I am not making any profit off of them (If I did they would be filming serie 3,4,5 and well you get the idea all, all at once). This is part of the "Emilie" episode, which made my unconventional shipping heart happy and where I got the idea of Constance and Aramis. Some of the dialogue is word for word from the episode. The start explains how Aramis got there and the rest is what happened after. Enjoy!

"Aramis, Aramis, come quickly." The Queen called from the opening of the tent where he had left them a few hours earlier.

He was seated by the fire near the tent. He ran into the tent to find Constance thrashing on her cot and suddenly Constance bolted up off the cot with the Queen grasping her arm. She felt like she could not get enough air.

"Constance, what is it? You were crying out in your sleep." The Queen rubbed her arm comfortingly.

"It was so real," A strangled noise left her throat. "I was there and -"

"Shhh you were dreaming." Aramis looked at her willing her to calm merely with his voice and a comforting hand on her shoulder. He had rarely seen her so frightened and it unnerved him. The whole situation was unnerving to him. Anne should not be here and neither should Constance.

"I've never felt anything like it before." Constance rock herself slightly trying to stave off the nausea building from the vividness of her dream. "I was so scared." She felt hysteria starting to take hold of her.

"God granted you a prophesy." Emilie intruded upon the trio.

"You're wrong." Constance struggled to get her breath back. "I hope you're wrong."

"You can't reject the truth once it is revealed." Emilie walked away from the small group.

The Queen hugged Constance, while Aramis looked over at Emlie's mother and a horrid feeling crept into his bones. "Constance, lie back." He smoothed her sweat soaked bangs off of her head and guided her back down on the cot. She was burning up. He asked Anne to stay with her and he went to find a cloth and a bowl of cool water. He returned back and smoothed the cloth across her brow. Anne retreated back to her cot, but watched the two with interest. The panicked look was still in Constance's eyes. "Rest, Constance, rest." He refeshed the cloth and left it across her forehead. He moved to stand when Constance grabbed his arm. "Easy, shhh." He pushed her back onto the cot and placed the cloth back on her forehead. "You need to rest. No one is going to hurt you."

"Aramis, please stay. I am so frightened." She still had a death grip on his arm, which he pried off and took her hand in his, rubbing a slow circle on the back of her hand.

He could feel her blood pounding beneath her skin. "Shhh you have no reason to be frightened. I am right here. I will keep you safe, I swear. No one is going to hurt you. Shhh. You're okay. Just rest."

The warmth from his eyes was the first warmth that Constance felt since she awoke. Aramis was always such a calming influence to her and she was so relieved that he was with her now. "Please don't leave me." The feeling he would walk away began to take hold. In her dream she felt alone and was not keen on him leaving any time soon.

"I'll be right here, but I need you to rest." He ran the back of his fingers against her flushed cheek and the gesture seemed to calm her. He had never been this close to Constance, to really look at her, without her walls up. She was always confident even in the face of danger. This was not the first nightmare that she had under his watch, but this one was far more concerning.

She was still burning up. Her body was drenched in a light sheen, but she was beautiful even in her current state. The fever had flushed her cheeks. It reminded him of a few of the blushes they had produced from her during their various escapades, where he usually earned a slap at some point, but she was practically one of them these days. Yet at this moment she looked so vulnerable. He refreshed the cloth again and smoothed the rest of her hair back against the pillow. He could see her struggling to keep her eyes open. He had a feeling her fatigue was due to her fever, which he suspected they could chalk up to the soup, which in turn was also the reason she was fighting to keep her eyes open. "Sleep." He whispered and finally he felt her body relax into the blankets and she fell into a fitful light sleep. She was moving around quite a bit, but she was not calling out in distress, so he thought he would let the soup and fever work its way out of her system. It was going to be a long night.


	4. Glass

Disclaimer: I do not own the Musketeers, nor am I profiting off of them.

Author's note: I have really been whumping on Constance, so I thought it should be Aramis' turn this time. Tag to "Through the Glass Darkly". Thank you for the reviews and keep them coming!

Everyone had made it back to Paris. Constance travelled to the garrison to see her friends. She was concerned about Aramis, since he had fallen out of the window. He was the one of the last to climb the hill to the carriages, which was unusual for him. He liked to be near the Queen as often as possible and usually would have been the first to be near the carriage. The others were seated at the tables near the training area, but Aramis had already retired for the evening. She spoke briefly with them before heading up the stairs.

Aramis raised his head from his book, when he heard a knock on his door. The low light had been keeping his headache at bay, but the knocking at the door started it again. He threw open the door and surprised to see Constance on the other side. "Constance?"

"I came to check on that hard head of your's." Constance pushed past him with some bandages, pouches, and ointment the physician had given her, before she left the palace.

"I am alright, really." Aramis tried to convince her as she placed the items on his table.

"Sure you are. Sit." Constance gestured to the chair in front of her. Her face not leaving room for argument.

Aramis slowly walked over to it and sat down. "This really isn't necessary."

Constance started looking at the back of his head and she could still see a few of the cuts were bleeding. "Oh Aramis." She whispered softly and started dabbing at the cuts. She even found a few more slivers of glass in the ones that were especially sore. "Well that should feel a bit better now." She said as she finished applying the soothing balm. She handed him an envelope with powder in it. "For your headache."

"How did you know?" Aramis asked, adding it to the tea she had made for him.

"You fell out of a building, practically onto your head. It was a good guess." She replied as she began cleaning the rest of the wounds on his face, neck and hands. "You are lucky you wear such a thick doublet."

"I know."

"Aramis, you could have been killed." She squeezed his hand looking up at him with concern. Although, she had just kissed D'artagnan earlier in the day and they had professed their love to each other, she could not ignore the fear that she felt when Aramis went out the window.

"But I am safe." Aramis smiled warmly and brushed her cheek with the back of his hand, it was becoming a common gesture between the two of them. "My God has not abandoned me."

Constance smiled back at his reply, it was so him. "Stop testing him." She replied standing. "I should get back to the Queen. Good night Aramis."

"Goodnight Madame." Aramis closed the door behind her. With the pain relieving power taking effect, he might actually be able to sleep through the night.


End file.
